Braddoc Ammon: Labor Story

Okay so finally I have some time to get on here and post about the labor and delivery. Between packing to move and handling two little men I have not had a whole lot of time, but since Braddoc is napping and Landon is gone with Daddy I have a few minutes to get on here and post about the delivery.

So I went in at 5 to be induced, (a lady walked in the same time as me in Labor and dilated the same as me.) I was given the whole run down on the induction procedures, the usually, “it may not take and if it does not we will send you home, you have till 4 to be in active labor or you go home and wait it out”, (should be easy enough I’m already at a 3 1/2-4 depending on who checks me.) and then given the whole run down on the risks involved. For some reason this time around I actually got a little nervous when he started talking about all the risks, like C-Sections and uncontrolled bleeding, fevers ect. That stuff wont happen to me right?!!! Then they check to see if he is in the right position. “Oh minor set back, he is facing sideways!!! So just rotate from side to side every 30 minutes and he should turn”…… we shall see!!!

So they start the Pitocin at 6:30 and check me! “About a 4, almost fully effaced and water is bulging, this should go really quick, so just relax and get some rest”. Okay easy enough, right?! Wrong! The contractions start almost immediately and don’t let up at all, another one is starting before the last one ends. So after about 2 hours of this, they come check me again. A good solid 4 but nothing different, be back in an hour. After another hour, 4 1/2 yeah!!! Moving right along!!! Or not. The next few times they check me I have not budged. So now its if I don’t make any more progress by 3 I go home. Now the icing on the cake at this point. The lady that came in the same time as me, dilated the same as me, had her baby 2 HOURS AGO!!!! And another has come in since me and delivered as well. Its my turn!!!

Now its almost 12 and I have been having contractions that are killing me, (worse then with Landon) for several hours, no relief and no movement. I am getting frustrated. Oh and the turning every 30 minutes is murder! I can not get comfy. So they have me stand and rock back and forth holding onto Noah, then bounces up and down will rocking back and forth, then some squats…. don’t you nurses know that this is VERY painful!!! My doctor, Dr. Nejduco transferred here from Cook County (you know the hospital ER is filmed at and about) so she is pretty much no pain no gain, big ole Black lady, who really is as sweet as can be, but she has seen it all so, deal with the pain!!! No epidural till you hit a 5!!! My poor nurses finally convinced her that I was in a ton of pain and that my contractions were very intense so she gave me some Finagrin and Stadol. It took the edge off and I was able to drift in and out of sleep for a bit. Finally at about 1 they check me again!!! NO PROGRESS!!!!!! “Okay Mrs. Jenkins if you don’t make progress in the next hour we will have to send you home.” WHAT!!! That’s now 2 and not 3 or 4!!! So here I am in tears, I went through all this and now I’m going to have to go home and hope he comes on his own. What is with me and getting stuck at a 4 1/2? The same thing happened with Landon, but I was so over due that they were not going to send me home till he came, take all the time in the world. Not this time, I had an hour to make progress or go home!!!

So here it is 1:30 and I beg the nurse to check me! YIPPIE!!!! I am at a 5! “Do you want an epidural?” YES about 5 hours ago! So they call the doc in, she checks me, sure enough I am in active labor and we can break the water and let the real fun begin. So they call the Anesthesiologist and we wait. At least this time he only took about an hour instead of over 3 like with Landon. So its 2:30 I have my epidural, but something does not feel right, I can still feel a lot of pain on the left side but nothing at all on the right, not even my toes. They stick me with a needle later in my leg and I don’t even know it! I tell the nurse and she says “That’s normal!” I don’t think so!!! They give me the catheter, PAIN!!!! I feel the whole thing, something is not right! “The Epidural guy said to call him if I felt like this, so please call him!!!” “Oh no you are okay!” Break my water, I feel the whole thing!!! This really hurts!!! So they check the catheter, over and over and reposition it over and over!! PAIN PAIN and more PAIN! STOP! Get the doc back in here to fix this, I feel the pain every contraction right there on the catheter. “Mama just turn up your medicine.” So I do, even more tingling numbness in the right side, nothing in the left. Okay Ill deal! So I send Noah home to get Landon so I can see him one last time as my only baby, since the nurse says its going to be awhile and he will probably be in bed by the time the baby gets here. So he leaves! About 5 minutes later, Braddoc’s heart rate drops. Down below 100! People start running into the room and making me turn, not so easy when I cant move my right side. They turn me to the left, his heart rate drops to the 40’s, not good! They turn me to the right his heart rate shoots up to the 250’s okay still not good, moving turning, dropping to about 44 then shooting up to the 250-270 range. More people running into the room. Putting the oxygen mask on me. Bringing in C-Section consent forms. The whole time I am so lost and no one is really explaining to me whats going on. I am crying and I’m all alone in a room full of people! Just when I feel like I am about to lose it Noah walks in carrying Landon, who immediately starts to freak out. All these people around mommy, a funny thing on her face. Why didn’t some one tell my poor husband, “You might not want to take him in there.”? So I pull the mask off, show Landon I am okay, give him a kiss and shoo them out the door. “Take him home and come back, FAST!!!” So he heads out the room and the mask goes back on. Still no one has bothered to really tell me, or at this time my very confused, concerned husband, what is going on besides, “If his heart rate does not stabilize we will have to do a C-Section.” By this time Braddoc’s heart rate is staying below 100 and I keep telling the nurse, “I hurt more and more with every contraction right on the catheter. I don’t know how much more I can take.” She asks, “Is it pressure? Surely you have not hit a 10 yet, its only been 45 minutes since you really hit a 5 and we broke your water.” My response, “I don’t know, it just hurts like nothing I have ever felt before.” So she checks me!!! “HOLY COW, your at a 9 1/2 just a slight lip and you will be a 10, its time to start pushing.” No calling the doctor, she is already in there along with all the whole floor of nurses. Oh and its not the doctor I have had all day, its a new one, my docs in a meeting. The new one, Dr. Gould, very sweet lady who really helped me out a ton.

Okay you can start pushing. “MY HUSBAND I CANT DO THIS WITH OUT MY HUSBAND!!” “What?” I repeat myself about 4 times, before someone gets smart and takes my mask off. “Can someone please stop my husband, I don’t want to do this with out him.” So off they go chasing him down and luckily he has not made it to the car yet. So some change of people, someone to watch Landon till my parents get there and I have my husband back and can start pushing. Oh wait!!! All that turning back and forth every 30 minutes, did not turn Braddoc from his sideways position. So I have to push him out that way! Since I had a horrible epidural I could not feel anything on the right side when I pushed and my pushes were not as effective on that side, which happened to be the side he was facing, so he kept getting stuck. “How long did you push with your first one?” “45 minutes” “Okay this will be much faster.” Wrong again. I have never hurt so badly. I seriously thought I could not do it, I just wanted to give up and be done, I could not push any more. They kept telling me to scream, and so I would with every push. Then I would apologize after I was done pushing, for screaming, they just laughed and told me they rarely hear “Sorry!” In the delivery room from the lady in labor. If he did not make progress on that push I would apologize again.

I was screaming and crying and thought I would not make it. All I thought with every push was “Heavenly Father I can not do this alone, I need your help.” I could not hold my legs to help me because of the epidural and then to top it all off, my left leg got a bad cramp and started to shake uncontrollably which made it almost impossible to push right. Finally, after 45 minutes of pushing he came out, and I tell you those last few pushes were not me, I could not have possibly done it by myself, I was so worn out and so sick that I know if it had not been for Heavenly Father, I might not have made it through. Oh and you know how they tell you to stop pushing when the head comes out? Not this monster, “Honey you have to keep pushing we cant get him out.” So I push some more and what do you know, a dream I had months ago about his feet getting stuck in me came true. His feet got stuck on my pelvic bone, so I had to push those out too.

They laid him on me and I feel in love. He was/ is so beautiful, so perfect and worth every second. The heart rate changes were caused by his dropping so fast into the birth canal. He went so fast that he hit his head on my pelvic bone and cut it open, so he had a nice bloody cut there. Poor guy it was a hard trip. I just wanted to hold him forever and never let go. The whole room stood still, it was just me and him. This perfect angel was mine. I finally look up at Noah who had tears streaming down his face, it was such a perfect moment. Then they took him away to clean him up and the rush of adrenaline wore off. Something else was not right, I feel really hot and really sick to my stomach. They take my temp. and I have a very high fever. So they load me up with cold rags and give me that lovely shot in my right leg that I never felt. They try to bring Braddoc back to me, but I tell them I can not take him, I really feel sick. I start shaking all over and can not stop. Then it happens! I throw up and can’t stop that either. Landon comes into the room, to see baby brother and poor kid walks into see Mommy throwing up and shaking with rags all over her and tons of people standing over her trying to stop whatever it was that was going on. Twice in one day was he traumitized, poor guy, I hope it does not scare him of hospitals. I was so sick to my stomach and so tired that I still don’t really know what was happening.

Finally the fever subsides, so does the sickness and after 2 hours, I finally get to hold my baby and feed him. And then I start to think, I can do this again!!! Funny because it took me 10 months after having Landon to say “Okay I can do that labor stuff again.” This time labor was 10 million times more crazy and more painful and it only took 2 hours for me to say “I can do this again.” I know the joy of having a baby and I know the joy of what is to come, and its all worth it.